2024 NVG Architecture Commission - Home Truth by Breathe

The 2024 NGV Architecture Commission offers a compelling vision for alternative homebuilding in Australia.

Home Truth, designed by architecture and design studio Breathe, is an installation that prompts reflection on how small-scale architecture can foster more sustainable, higher-quality and community-oriented living environments.

The project invites audiences into a space that questions the ethical and ecological impact of very large homes commonly built around Australia. Ranking among the largest in the world, the average Australian home is 236 square metres in size, ahead of the United States, the UK, France and Canada, as reported in 2020 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Home Truth comprises an external house frame that represents the oversized silhouette of the average Australian home. Nestled inside the silhouette is a quiet, reflective timber volume that depicts the footprint of a smaller-scale house.